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	Relieved Catholics Hope for Healing, Forgiveness By Nancy Haught and Aimee Green The Oregonian April 14, 2007 http://www.oregonlive.com/news/oregonian/index.ssf?/base/news/1176521146265910.xml&coll=7 "Thank God, it is settled." That sentiment -- expressed by Thomas Davis, a member of St. Augustine Parish in Lincoln City -- reflects the feelings of many western Oregon Catholics who learned Friday that the Portland Archdiocese's two-year-old bankruptcy is over. "We were worried that we might lose our new parish hall," said Davis, who is organist and a cantor at St. Augustine. "Bad things happened, but the archdiocese survived." Many parishioners said they were relieved that their churches, schools or other parish property won't have to be sold to pay clergy abuse claims, but many of them want healing and forgiveness to be the next steps in the process. "Perhaps now feelings can de-escalate and some healing can begin," said Joan O'Neill, a member of St. Andrew Parish in Portland. For a time, she was active in Voice of the Faithful, a national activist group organized in response to the clergy abuse crisis in the Catholic Church. O'Neill said she hopes that abuse victims who want to speak to congregations will be given the chance to do so. "It is exceedingly healthy for both sides to hear these stories," she said. David Clohessy, national director for the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, said he has mixed feelings about the settlement. "Essentially, the settlements can help survivors feel validation and move toward more healing," said Clohessy, whose organization is based in Chicago. But Clohessy is deeply disappointed that the archdiocese so far hasn't released documents that might reveal who in the church suspected, knew about or concealed the abuse. Clohessy thinks the archdiocese was eager to avoid embarrassment in open court.
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